Grimm: The Maria Cronicles
by Foxface9
Summary: Monroe used to have a normal simple life. Until he figured out that, not only was his triplet and only sister is dead, but she had married a Grimm and had a half Grimm-Blutbad daughter. Oh, and he was now her legal guardian. And then, to make everything even more complicated, an idiot Grimm had to come along and put his niece in danger. (This is that replacement I promised you all)
1. Chapter 1

Nick ran full force into the werewolf before he'd closed the door. He knew this was the man, the thing that had kidnapped the Robin Howell. Something inside of him just knew it, but before Hank could show up or see where he'd gone for that matter, the air was knocked out of him and he was pinned to the ground by another werewolf. Getting his surroundings, he saw that not only was this one smaller, but she had yellow eyes. She morphed back, but her eyes didn't change their yellow glow.

"Thanks Maria," the man said. "You can get off of him now."

She got off of Nick without protest, her yellow eyes slowly fading to a bright emerald green.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Before Nick could reply, Hank came in. The officer looked around before asking, "What happened?"

Nick had nothing to say. The girl however, who looked about fourteen years old, had a statement.

"He just barged in here and tackled my uncle to the ground!" she said, a thick New York accent audible in her voice.

Hank then turned to Nick, looking at him like he was a talking carrot. It took a moment or two for Nick to realize a few things. One, he was still on the floor. Two, Hank was waiting for an explanation. And, three, Nick did not have one for his actions. He scrambled up, rubbing his neck awkwardly as he did.

"Look, I'm sure this was just a big misunderstanding," the larger werewolf said, holding the smaller one's shoulders protectively.

"Yea," Hank said, looking from the werewolf to Nick skeptically. "Look, I'm sorry for the trouble you two. Nick, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Nick followed the older detective out of the house, the girl watching him with a questioning stare all the while.

"What was that about?" Hank asked.

"I thing that's our guy," Nick whispered, referring to the larger werewolf.

"Based on what Nick?"

What was he supposed to say? That the guy was a werewolf?

"I just, have a gut feeling," Nick said, grasping at anything he could to get Hank to believe him.

"Yea sure. Well, next time, tell your gut we need a warrant and some evidence before we tackle grown men into a staircase in front of little girls Nick! He could press charges! That girl may be scarred for life," Hank said.

Though, Nick highly doubted that she was the least bit scared of him. "I'm sorry," he said anyway, "I guess I just… acted on impulse."

Hank looked around, looking like he was thinking for a moment before he finally said, "I'll keep it to myself. Just don't let it happen again okay?"

"I won't," Nick lied, grateful for the older detective's friendship.

* * *

"What was he?" Maria asked once the officers had left the house, door shut gratefully behind them.

"I'll tell you when you're older, okay?" Monroe said sadly.

Maria sighted, looking out the window after the two men as they walked away. 'You just wouldn't understand', 'You'll learn when you're older', she'd been hearing that from her parents her entire life. And now, the same song and dance was coming from her uncle.

"Why when I'm older?" she pushed, already knowing it would get her nowhere.

Monroe ignored the question. He had been asked the same questions at least once a week for the past month since his sister had died, leaving her only daughter to him. He knew what Maria wanted to know, he knew why. It was a reasonable thing to ask, but he couldn't tell her. His mother, his father, his brother, even his sister in her will had made him promise not to tell her. and it broke his heart to know that he could never put Maria's mind to rest. She never got angry, but that made it even worse. She seemed to except that she wasn't a normal Blutbad, but she just wanted to know what she was.

"I'm gonna go for a walk, okay?" she said, heading to the door as he walked away.

"Yea, go ahead," Monroe said "You know the rule."

"I know, back before the street lights," Maria said with a weak forced smile as she walked out the door. I_'m not even lying_, she thought as she pulled the wallet she had taken out of the officer's pocket,_ I know the rule, I'm just not planning on following it tonight._

* * *

The address, being on Nick's ID, was easy to find. It was late, and the sun began to go down. But Maria had the ability to get home before the streetlights if she hurried. She walked up the path to the house before her and knocked on the door. A beautiful red head answered the door with a sweet yet confused smile on her face.

"Well, hello there," she said to Maria. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, yea, I was walking when I found this," she said holding up Nick's wallet. "Is there a Nicholas Burkhardt here?"

* * *

Nick was inside the kitchen when he heard the voice. The same New York accent from the werewolf house. He got up and went to the door, surprised to see the fourteen year old girl with a familiar black wallet in her hand.

"Oh, yea," Juliet said, turning around to see Nick standing there with a look of both horror and curiosity on his face. "Hey Nick you have a visitor, and I need to check on dinner," she said, leaving.

Nick walked over to the smug looking little girl on her face.

"Ello the'," she said, her accent thicker this time than the others. She held out the wallet saying "I believe this is yours!"

"Thanks," Nick said, taking the wallet. "So, what do you want?"

"I just want to know what you are. I'll leave then, I promise! I just have to know!" she said, her eyes pleading Nick to give her an answer.

"Why do you want to know what I am?" Nick asked.

"Please, that's all I want to know. My family's never told me when I asked them what you Wesen are. My dad was one too, and I'm half one, but I don't know what I am!" she said, a sorrow look on her face.

"Tell you what, you tell me where that little girl is and I'll tell you what I am," Nick said.

"I don't know exactly where she is, but I could lead you there by tracking the scent!" she said, jumping at the chance.

Nick thought it over. It was a tempting offer, though he still had some doubts that this girl hadn't been the one to kidnap Robin in the first place. And it was a bit odd.

"Fine. Let's go," Nick said, about to tell Juliet that he was leaving.

"Wait! We can't go now! My uncle is going to get worried if I don't get home soon," she said, debating on what to do.

"Well I could stop bye later at night," Nick said, feeling really disgusting as an adult for saying this to a fourteen year old girl.

She bit her lip and thought a bit before nodding and saying "Okay, I'll be outside on the right side of the house," before scampering off down the path and down the road to the woods.

* * *

Maria stood by her window, pulling on her shoes. Monroe was awake, just in the living room, so she had to be careful and quiet. She opened the window and crawled through, her feet landing on the cold ground between two bushes. It was late, about nine. She made her way to the side of the house and peeked around the corner to see the man with yellow eyes, Nick Burkhardt, poking around. When she made a move to sneak toward him however, her uncle came crashing through the window and barreling into the man, woged out and all.

"You shouldn't have come back!" he growled in the man's face. Monroe couldn't keep up the act, fading into laughter and standing up. He held out a hand to help the man stand up and said "Sorry man, but you really shouldn't have come back here," before turning to Maria and stress-laughing to her "You, are so grounded!" When Nick got up, Monroe turned to him saying, "And you are leaving. Now."

Nick was persistent. "Look, I get that you don't have her. But if you can help me find this little girl, please. Help me find her."

Her uncle looked from Maria to Nick, and back to Maria. As if he was debating. He sighed heavily before saying "Fine. I'll help," Monroe then turned to Maria and said "But you're going back to bed!" with a stern finger pointed at her.

Knowing that school was tomorrow and she wasn't going to win this fight, Maria went inside. Leaving her chances of finding out what she was behind her with her uncle.

* * *

It was awkward. The yellow beetle was small, and the air thick with discomfort as they drove throught the woods.

"Look man," the werewolf, Monroe, said, "I get that you just wanted to find this little girl, but I really don't want Maria to find out she's half Grimm. Thanks for not chopping off her head by the way."

"Why would I do that? And what exactly is a Grimm?" Nick questioned.

"You know, a Grimm? Guess you're new to the whole Wesen thing huh?"

"Yea, sort of like three days or so," Nick said, looking down at the floor. "And why can't she know she's half Grimm and half werewolf?"

"Ah- Blutbad. Not werewolf. Very big difference there! And she can't know because of two things. Her parents were killed for it. So, my parents made me promise not to tell her to protect her," Monroe explained, obviously a little uncomfortable talking about it.

"Wow, really?" Nick asked in disbelief, feeling sympathy for the girl. What shocked him back to reality was when the yellow car tilted to the left and he looked over to see Monroe with his head out the window as he drove. "Uh, I can drive if you want," he said, not exactly feeling safe with him driving the car like that.

"Nah, I'm good," he responded, not thinking anything of Nick's statement.

* * *

Soon, they pulled over in the middle of the woods where Monroe got out, and Nick followed after. They walked through the woods for a while, coming to a stop in some bushes outside of a small wooden house.

"Alright, now you might want to use some of this," Monroe said, handing him a bottle of some elixir.

"What is it?" Nick asked, taking it in his hands.

"That, is wolfsbane. It will keep him from smelling you," he explained. "It only woks against Blutbads."

"Wait, will I need silver bullets?" Nick asked.

"No man! Are you crazy? And look, just please, don't tell her okay? In fact, I'd like you to stay away from us both as much as you can," Monroe said, very seriously.

Nick took it to heart, and said "I'll stay as far away as possible," and unknowingly lying once more.


	2. Chapter 2

Monroe had expected that to be the last of the Grimm.

Maria had been doing a bit better, not asking her signature question as much. Though, not a lot had changed. He'd expected her to be a bit angry, at the least upset. But, she was just quieter. Nothing really hostile. She talked when she was talked to, and she never said anything with spite in her voice. Nor had she really talked that much beforehand. She just seemed, distant and neutral. He hadn't grounded her actually, she hadn't left the house in the past month anyway for anything but school and didn't have any friends. She mostly just watched television and read books, or listened to music on occasion. He heard her singing once or twice and, when complemented on it at dinner, she had gotten really quiet mumbling an awkward 'thank you'. He never heard her sing again after that. He tried a few times to ask about school, or get her talking a little bit, but she just took what he said and quickly thought of a response that would end the conversation without trying to be rude. He didn't think of it as being rude, not at all, he just wanted her to react to the things that happened around her rather than just absorbing them and dodging them as she needed.

Though, what had made it all the worse was how that Grimm just showed up out of the blue. If I ever see that Grimm again, he said to himself, I… I'm gonna… probably do nothing. Monroe let out a frustrated sigh as a knock came on the door and he got up to answer it. Half way to the door, he could smell who it was. Part of him wanted to tell him to go, the other part wanted to pretend he wasn't home. But, instead, he opened up the door to see Nick standing there with a bear claw.

"Look, hear me out before you tell me to go away!" he said frantically, "I'm in another missing person case, and I just need to know what this thing is. I know that today is Thursday and it's one, so she won't be home until like two hours! Just, please, help."

Monroe could never say no to anyone, especially when someone's life was in danger if he did. So, he simply opened up the door and motioned for the Grimm to come in as he thought about where he'd seen that claw before. As the door closed and he could vaguely hear about four rounds of 'Thank you' from Nick, it came to him.

"That's a Jägerbär relic! It's used during the Roh-Hatz to disembowel their victims! Where did you even get it?!" Monroe said probably way to over excited, as he realized what Nick had in his hands.

"Wait, what's a Roh-Hatz?" Nick asked.

Monroe calmed himself down, and stood up just a bit straighter as he answered, "It's a Jägerbär coming of age ceremony. You know, boyhood to manhood? It's a big hunt they do when they turn eighteen. I didn't know anyone did it anymore. I guess some of the more traditional ones might."

"Thanks, that's a big help. And I owe you big ti-" Nick was cut off as his cell phone rang in his pocket.

Monroe excused him with a nod as he continued to work on his clock.

"Burkhardt," he answered.

Monroe couldn't hear the conversation, but the Grimm was very stressed when he had finally hung up.

"Who was that? What's wrong?" Monroe asked, pure curiosity getting to him. And he would soon wish that it hadn't.

* * *

Monroe couldn't believe this. How had the Grimm talked him into this again? It made no sense. He owed nothing to Nick. In fact, he owed Monroe. He was sidetracked for a moment, until he noticed some men making their way to the room. Then, he had to leave after them. This would be remembered by Monroe as his biggest mistake.

Maria walked over to the hospital receptionist. She didn't know why her uncle was there, but he was. And had called the school to go to the hospital was school was out.

"Hello," the receptionist, Grace, said, "How may I help you?"

"Hi," Maria said awkwardly, "Is there a Monroe here?"

Grace smiled before clacking into her computer "Uh, no," she said before looking at the sign in sheet on a clipboard in front of her. "But a Monroe did visit a room just a few hours ago."

"Yes, could I have that room number?"

"Friend or family is all I need," Grace replied smiling.

"I'm his niece," Maria said.

* * *

Marie couldn't believe it. The Blutbad had actually left to protect her. Though, what surprised her the most was the girl coming into the room. Her hair grew, much like a Blutbad, but her green eyes turned gold. When the girl morphed back, her face wasn't scared as Marie had expected it to be. Her face was full of curiosity and joy.

"Who are you?" Marie asked, tilting her head as best she could.

"Maria," the girl said simply. "How do you know my uncle?"

"I believe that my nephew will have to answer that. Do you know Nick?" Marie asked, wondering if this girl was somehow related to her and how.

"I met him a few days ago," the girl said, knocking out that possibility quickly and mercifully.

"Yes, and what are you?" she asked, getting to the point.

"Well, I'm half Blutbad. And half whatever you are."

"You don't know?" Marie asked, tilting her head once more.

"No, no one ever told me," Maria said sadly, looking down.

Marie smiled. She'd always had a soft spot for children, even the Wesen. She beckoned the girl with her hand and motioned for her to sit in the seat next to her.

"I'm sorry, what's your name again? I'm always forgetting these things," Marie said on she'd sat down.

"Maria," she said once more.

"Well, my name is Marie. So, it looks like that isn't the only thing we have in common. You know, your eyes look familiar to me. My brother had a pair just like em'!" she said with a laugh at the memory. "He wasn't one of us you know, but he did carry it. Though, his daughter never got it." She paused, looking at the girl who was watching her with peaked interest. "Would you like me to stop teasing you and tell you what we are?"

"Y-yes," Maria stuttered with excitement as she managed to contain herself.

"I don't want you to be scared now," Marie said, holding the girl's hands in her own. Maria nodded, her eyes wide with excitement in them. "Come here."

* * *

Monroe skidded through the halls as he swiftly walked, barely stopping himself from breaking into a full sprint. His shirt was splattered with blood, yet covered by his coat. He'd ripped a man's arm off. A man's arm was now lying on the ground, separate from his body. He'd lost control, and pulled a man's arm off. He thought that this was the worst that it could possibly get, and then he saw Maria. She was sitting in a chair, talking to Marie. Her eyes were wide, her jaw dropped slightly. The portrait of shock. Monroe wanted to say something. Anything. To Marie or Maria he didn't know, but there was no time to do so.

"Maria…" he said into the room, catching both Maria's and Marie's attention. Maria's eyes were hurt, sad, confused, and shocked. His face was sympathetic, but he still said "I am so sorry. But we have to go. I'll tell you anything you want on the way, I promise! But we have to leave."

She looked like she was going to say something, but simply shook her head before looking down and releasing Marie's hand. Looking only at Marie and the floor as she did so, she walked past her uncle and stayed far in front of her uncle's brisk pace.

* * *

Monroe was thoroughly surprised at Maria's reaction to the news, mostly because there wasn't one. He'd expected a question or two, maybe for her to be angry with him. But, she didn't appear as such. Her expression was stoic as she sat pokerfaced and upright in her seat without any clue as to how she felt about the news. He wanted to say something, anything. Yet, he couldn't find the words. So, when they pulled into the driveway of his house and she went to open the door, he made an attempt.

"Maria, please. Wait," he said, causing her hand to retract from the handle and to turn to him. "What do you have to say? How do you feel about knowing this?"

That broke every beerier. Everything she had bottled up inside broke at those two questions. "What do you want me to say?" she asked, tearing up. "That I'm sorry I asked? That I wish I could forget? That I liked being in the dark? Because I didn't! I'm glad I know! Though, you know what I am sorry for? What I do wish I forget? I wish that I wasn't raised to believe that Grimms, my own dad, were cold blooded killers and that was all their ever good for. I hated myself! You realize that, right? I grew up believing that people like my dad and I would always be horrible, indecent, barbaric, brutal murders! And all that anyone did was encourage it! Do you know what it was like growing up and having to ask my dad why he was so sad when I told him about how I had a nightmare about the Grimm coming to get me? And then, I crawled into bed up next to one! Never even knowing! I grew up, hating and fearing my dad and myself. Because no one wanted to tell me exactly what I am. And now that I know, I think I'm better off for it." Maria then proceeded to open the car door and close it, before going into the house.

Monroe was dumbstruck. She hadn't yelled. The doors were both closed carefully. All of the power that those words carried had come from the raw expression he saw coming from his usually emotionless niece, showing just how much she really was affected internally by this. She, again, didn't seem mad at him really. Just, confused. And so, he decided that maybe calling in on one of those favors the Grimm owed him was in order.


	3. Chapter 3

Nick smiled as he arrived at the hospital. Monroe's call had shown that he had made the right decision to ask the Blutbad to watch over Marie for a while. And he certainly knew that he owed him in some way. As he entered the halls to go to Marie's room, his phone rang and the name 'Monroe' was spelled in white letters across the screen.

"Nick, we have to talk it's about your aunt," Monroe said

"Oh and thanks again for protecting her Monroe. It means a lot to me and I'll be sure to stay a-" Nick began, but was cut off as he saw Marie struggling with a man dressed as a priest before she promptly stabbed him in the chest with a scalpel. He dropped the phone, and ran forward to pull the man off of his aunt as Marie slowly fell to the ground. "Aunt Marie!"

"Nick, I'm sorry," she said before panting, "There are things *pant* you need to *pant*know."

"Sh, it's okay, don't talk! You'll be alright!" Nick said, tearing up. "I need some help!" he called through the hospital. "Anyone, please!"

Marie was going, her eyes becoming glazed as her lids fell over them. But she still had some important words. "Nick! Listen to *pant* me… that *pant* girl…" she then went limp and cold in Nick's arms.

The doctors then deemed it a good time to finally appear, but it was too late. Marie was gone. They attempted to get her away from Nick, finally succeeding and leaving him alone on his knees with the body of the fake priest behind him. He didn't realize he'd been crying until a hand found itself on his shoulder and he turned to see a nurse behind him with a sympathetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry Mr. Burkhardt," she said, handing him his phone. Monroe's name was gone from the screen, signaling that the nurse had hung up.

Monroe couldn't believe it. The fight had been large, as he could hear everything from the minute the phone was dropped. He never thought he'd meet a Grimm, much less hear one cry. It was, life changing.

"Excuse me? Who is this?" a female voice came over the line

"Um, this is Monroe. Is Nick there? Is he okay?" Monroe asked.

"Mr. Burkhardt is in shock at the moment. Would you like to speak with him?"

"Uh- No. It's fine," he said, hanging up on the Nurse before she could say anything else.

About a week later, pretty late at night, Maria sat on the couch watching a random episode of 'How I Met Your Mother'. Not many things had changed. Monroe had been working on a large grandfather clock when she got home, so she settled for the rerun once she was done with her homework, part of her wishing that life was really like this back in New York. Then, she heard a phone ring before abruptly stopping. A few minutes later she also heard Monroe get up, a chair fall over, some glass shattering and a muffled curse before a clutter of noises came from the closed door of his work room. Though, when the door opened less than a minute later, it appeared clean and untouched.

"Hey Maria," Monroe said, slightly limping. "I'm going out somewhere, and its Friday so feel free to stay up until when ever, okay?"

"Where are you going?" she asked, poking her head over the sofa.

"Oh, I'm a meeting a client and picking up another clock," he lied poorly. "Bye!"

And then her uncle left. But not before picking up a piece of paper he'd dropped with an address on it. Maria was going to find out what exactly was going on.

It was pretty late and dark in the paper mill where Monroe had driven. In front of them was Nick Monroe considered calling out when Nick whirled around. Monroe stuck his hands up in sort of surrender.

"Whoa! Easy there 5-O! You called me, remember?" Monroe said as Nick turned around and calmed his breath as much as he could. "Don't you have a partner for this?" he said.

"Of course because if I told him that my two main suspects turned into bees, he'd completely understand," Nick said with a grin.

"Lucky me!" Monroe said sarcastically with an eye roll as Nick began walking forward and Monroe decided to break the silence saying "So, Mellifers huh?"

"Yea they had something to do with a murder on a Portland street car," Nick explained.

"Murder? Not really their shtick," Monroe commented.

"Well bees bite don't they?" Nick asked.

"Yea, but only when-"

"Threatened, I know," Nick said, tired, giving the impression that he'd heard it many times before. "But I read in a book that they also have something to do with 'Balancing the Eco-tone' what's that mean?"

"That's just some fancy-pants mumbo-jumbo for saying their like gossips you know? Like, creature community's switchboard," Monroe explained, rolling his eyes.

"Or social media," Nick commented.

"And when a Mellifer sends out a message, it definitely means that something sketchy is going on somewhere," Monroe explained further.

"Well Hank and I were attacked by a swarm of bees earlier if that's sketchy enough for ya," Nick said. He stooped down to examine a pair of foot prints saying "We were following two guys who turned out to be Mellifers. And they met a woman."

"Yea? And?" he said after a long pause. "What? Do you think I know everything about every creature out there?" Monroe asked sarcastically.

"I don't need you for what you know I need your nose," Nick said.

"Oh I get it, so little Timmy's stuck in a well and you need Lassie to come find him? Boy you really know how to butter a guy up for favor," Monroe said, considering going home.

"I got a bottle of '78 Bordo in my truck," Nick said matter-of-factly.

"I might be able to catch a scent," Monroe said, obviously having caved in.

"But you said Mellifers delivered messages. What kind of message is it when they murder an innocent woman?" Nick asked, scowling down the footprint trail.

Maybe she wasn't so innocent," was all Monroe had to say.

Maria ran through the forest. Her legs and lungs both screaming. But she was determined. Her uncle's car was parked outside of the building that the address had led her to. A paper mill. She reasoned about her scent and luck struck when she found a mistletoe bush. She dove into the leaves and made sure to grab a few leaves for extra assurance before finally entering the mill. She slunk inside and was careful as she followed her uncle's scent through the mill, so as not to make noise. Suddenly, she heard a small shout and followed it. She slowed down and decided that more care should be taken as she recognized Nick's voice along with her uncle's.

The first distinctive thing she could hear was her uncle saying "Mellifers only have one natural enemy."

"Hexenbiest," Nick answered quickly. What's that? Maria wondered, Some sort of Wesen?

"Well look at you! Hitting the books!" Monroe said. When she could hear him taking a large sniff of the area, she thought that she was caught. "I am definitely getting a female scent here… Undeniable."

She stayed absolutely still and silent and thanked the mistletoe as Nick said "You're that sure?"

"No, her perfume. It's called 'Undeniable'," Monroe said, causing a small snort of laughter to escape Maria, unnoticed under the sound of the two men climbing the stairs. Monroe sped up then.

"Hey wait up!" Nick called in protest to the Blutbad's acceleration.

"Don't you dare say heel!" Monroe yelled back down, causing Maria to chuckle a bit once more.

When they'd gone on the second floor, Maria climbed halfway up the staircase so that she could hear.

"But, they didn't come in here," Nick's voice came, "We saw them leave the mill."

"Hey!" Monroe said sternly "The nose knows. I am getting a big time wiffer in here. Maybe she left something behind… Oh yea. Scent's real strong. She could come back at some point. But, I have to get-" Then, Maria made the mistake of placing her foot on a creaky place on a step. "Did you hear that?"

"No, what?" Nick asked, but Maria knew the answer to what he'd heard. She flew down the stairs as she could hear footsteps behind her and ran through the mill at top speed, dropping a single leaf. She stopped behind some machines and calmed her breathing so that she couldn't be heard. The footsteps slowed as she could hear them bickering quietly about what to do."Let's split up," Nick said. "You go that way and I'll go this way."

Maria crouched down and scurried quietly away. She hurried through the canisters and machines, being careful of her surroundings. Every footstep as quiet as she could make it. Then, she ran into a dead end.

"Just come out with your hands up," Nick's voice came from just around the corner.

Just when she thought she was caught, she noticed a large box with foam peanuts inside. She shoved out a few peanuts and made room for her to sit before closing the box and pushing the peanuts to the top. When she had just finished the task, it took her a minute to wonder why a paper mill would need foam peanuts to ship paper of all things before she heard footsteps and stilled her breathing once more.

"Nick, did you see something?" Monroe's voice called.

"I thought so, but it's a dead end," the Grimm said. Monroe walked over to Nick. It was indeed a dead end. But then he noticed the box and scattered foam peanuts around it. "Monroe," Nick said, pointing to the box. They walked over to it. The tape seal was broken and the box was folded closed. Nick pried it open to find more peanuts.

Monroe, however, was the one to stick his hand in and find an arm. He was a bit gentler when he pulled this one, however, and found Maria on the other end with foam peanuts falling from her hair.

"Hey Uncle Monroe. Fancy meeting you here," she said, trying to joke around a bit. But her uncle's hard glare told her that it wasn't going to work.

"Did you chase my car here?!" Monroe asked as they were driving back to his house.

"No, you dropped the address on the ground, so I just went to the address," Maria said, as if it protected her from all wrong. This of course, as she knew it wouldn't, did not work.

"Maria, that could have been dangerous," Monroe lectured as he looked from the road for a second.

"I know but, I just wanted to know what was going on," Maria defended.

"Well, why didn't you just ask me what was going on? Would that have been so hard?" Monroe asked.

"I did ask, and you said you had a client you were going to meet a client. Remember?" Maria said.

Monroe was now shocked at himself as he stuttered "Yea, but, that's because- well… okay. I lied. But you still shouldn't have followed me! I guess that asking me wouldn't have gotten you the answer, but you still could have gotten hurt! I just, I don't know what to do."

"Let me help! Please. I have just as good of a nose and reflexes! Sure I'm not as strong but, I can handle myself!" Maria said.

"No, it's dangerous! I'm not just going to go let you help with a police investigation at age fourteen! I wouldn't even be doing this if it wasn't for the safety of others!"

"He offered you wine, I heard it. And the bottle is in the backseat."

"Yea, but, the wine was just to get me to demine myself for the sake of others!" Monroe excused hopelessly, knowing that it wasn't going to get him anywhere. "Besides, it's not like it's entirely my decision. If Nick asks for your help next time, I'll let you go for it, okay?"

Maria looked a bit skeptical at first, but then she said "Fine."


End file.
